| Previous Section | Home Page |
Column 996
The costs associated with their transfer are those relating to the preparation and promulgation of the Transfer of Functions (National Heritage) Order 1992.Broadcasting Restrictions
Lady Olga Maitland : To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, whether he has completed his review of the Northern Ireland broadcasting restrictions ; and what conclusions he has reached.
Mr. Brooke : The Government will keep the matter under review in the light of further developments.
DEFENCE
Bosnia
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the roles of No. 39 (1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit) Squadron Royal Air Force and No. 51 Squadron Royal Air Force in operations over Bosnia.
Mr. Hanley : Aircraft of No. 39 (1 PRU) Squadron undertake photographic reconnaissance over Bosnia. Their work is of value to the NATO air forces enforcing the no-fly zone and to our forces on the ground. Aircraft of RAF No. 51 Squadron do not conduct operations over Bosnia.
Low Flying
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft, and of what types, are scheduled to be deployed to Goose Bay for low flying training in 1994 ; and what are their planned dates of deployment.
Mr. Hanley : Currently, the only aircraft type planned to deploy to Goose Bay for low-flying training in 1994 is the Tornado GR1. Nine aircraft will deploy at the start of the season and will be used by each squadron in rotation. The planned deployments dates for the squadrons are :
18 April to 2 May
2 May to 16 May
16 May to 30 May
30 May to 13 June
13 June to 27 June
8 August to 22 August
22 August to 5 September
5 September to 19 September
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft, and of what types, were involved in the Italian air force deployment to West Freugh during November 1993 ; what were the dates of the deployment ; how many low-level sorties were undertaken by Italian aircraft during the deployment, and at what minimum authorised altitudes ; and if he will make a statement on the nature and scope of the agreement with the Italian authorities granting access to United Kingdom weapons range and low flying facilities for Italian military aircraft.
Mr. Hanley : The Italian air force--IAF--aircraft deployed to the test and evaluation range at West Freugh between 5 and 12 November 1993 were as follows :
2 AMX--Fast Jets
2 G-222--Transport Aircraft
1 HH-3F--Helicopter
Column 997
The aircraft flew a total of 17 low-level sorties over the range area ; they were authorised to fly down to a minimum height of 500 ft. No low-level sorties were flown in the United Kingdom low flying system--UKLFS.There is no bilateral arrangement between the RAF and IAF which facilitates IAF use of RAF weapons ranges outside of a NATO exercise or squadron exchange.
Low flying in the UKLFS by the IAF is carried out under reciprocal arrangements which permit RAF aircraft to fly at low level in Italy. In general, the IAF is not authorised to fly below 500 ft in the United Kingdom.
Goose Bay
Mr. Foulkes : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the numbers of Royal Air Force personnel on the establishment of Royal Air Force (Unit) Goose Bay, excluding personnel on temporary training detachments, on 1 August and 1 December in each year since 1990 ; and if he will make a statement of his plans for the future role of Royal Air Force (Unit) Goose Bay.
Mr. Hanley : Figures are not available in the form requested. Figures for the years in question are, however, as follows :
|Number
----------------------------
March 1990 |94
March 1991 |93
June 1992 |99
December 1992 |99
June 1993 |99
December 1993 |102
The RAF has a continuing requirement for the high quality low-flying training which is available to it at Goose Bay and in other parts of north America. The proven ability of the RAF unit at Goose Bay to provide the comprehensive support which squadron detachments to Canada and the USA require has ensured that such training has continued to be carried out successfully. Consequently, there are no plans to alter the future role of the unit.
Euratom Treaty
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the areas of his Department's activities covered by chapter III on health and safety of the Euratom treaty.
Mr. Hanley : None. The Euratom treaty does not apply to military activities.
Depleted Uranium Shells
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on progress made in environmental monitoring of depleted uranium shell test firing into the Solway firth.
Mr. Aitken : We have continued our well-established programme of analysing soil and vegetation samples from seven locations on the Kirkcudbright range every four months and seawater and silt samples from the nearby waters of the Solway firth once a year. In addition a contract was placed with an independent contractor, W. S. Atkins Environment of Epsom, on 13 December 1993 to undertake an environmental assessment of depleted
Column 998
uranium firing at the Kirkcudbright and Eskmeals ranges. The contractor is due to make his final report in April and, in letters to local MPs, I have recently reaffirmed my intention that as much as possible of the report should be made public.Arms Sales (Nigeria)
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what consignments of United Kingdom-made arms sold to Nigeria have not yet been delivered.
Mr. Aitken : The information requested can be supplied only at disproportionate cost. I will write to the hon. Member.
Military Supplies (Exports)
Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what military supplies have been exported from the United Kingdom over the past five years.
Mr. Aitken : I refer the hon. Member to the information contained in table 1.11 of the 1993 edition of "UK Defence Statistics", a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Public Bodies
Dr. Wright : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which non- departmental public bodies for which he is responsible have been (a) abolished or (b) created since 1979.
Mr. Hanley : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 1 February, Official Report, column 611.
Statutory Sick Pay
Mr. Ingram : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide figures for the amount his Department has been reimbursed by the Department of Social Security in respect of statutory sick pay provision for each of the past three years.
Mr. Hanley : For the last three financial years, the Ministry of Defence has been reimbursed the following amounts by the DSS in respect of statutory sick pay provisions :
Financial year |£ --------------------------------------------- 1990-91 |8,776,265 1991-92 |6,473,761 1992-93 |6,499,710
Cash Limits
Mr. Day : To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes he proposes to the class I cash limits and running costs limits for 1993-94.
Mr. Rifkind : Subject to parliamentary approval of the spring supplementary estimates, the following changes will be made :
Column 999
Class I Cash Limits
£000
Vote |Current cash|Change |Revised cash
|limit |limit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1 |12,405,216 |+264,594 |12,669,810
2 |3,844,613 |+ 45,969 |3,890,582
3 |7,153,498 |-383,998 |6,769,500
These changes decrease the block defence cash limit by £73,435,000. They allow for increased expenditure on class I, votes 1 and 2, which will be offset by lower expenditure on class I, vote 3. The changes additionally take account of a decrease of £75,000,000 to reflect a forecast underspend against provision for recovery from Operation Granby which is subject to specific limits. Also reflected is the net effect of transfers between the Ministry of Defence and other Government Departments. The running costs limit will be increased by £55,069,000 from £5,475,310,000 to £5,530,379,000, £53,232,000 of this increase results from the continued rationalisation of activities to meet the new force structure. This involves the transfer of certain administrative tasks into the running costs total and does not add to the overall level of defence expenditure. The increase also reflects minor changes of £1,837,000 principally due to interdepartmental transfers.
EMPLOYMENT
Ministers (Travel)
Mr. Matthew Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the (a) budgeted and (b) actual expenditure by his Department on (1) internal and (2) overseas travel by the Secretary of State since 27 May 1993.
Mr. David Hunt : Ministers in this Department do not have individual travel budgets. However, since my appointment on 27 May 1993, I have spent £3,354 on travel within the United Kingdom and £10,241 on travel overseas. These figures do not include the cost of my official car.
Labour Statistics
Mr. Peter Bottomley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the proportion of workers in (a) temporary or contract employment and (b) part-time work in each EC country, in (i) the latest year for which information is available and (ii) 10 years previously.
Miss Widdecombe : Latest comparable estimates of the proportion of employees in temporary employment and the proportion working part time across all EC countries are for spring 1991 and are given in the table. No comparable figures exist prior to 1983, so proportions for this year have also been supplied in the table.
In addition, a footnote to the table provides spring 1993 figures for the United Kingdom.
Column 1000
Proportion of employees in temporary and part-time employment
Percentage
Proportion of Proportion of
|employees in |employees working
temporary |part-time
employment
Country |1983 |1991 |1983 |1991
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spain |- |32 |- |4
Greece |16 |15 |5 |3
Portugal |- |14 |- |4
Denmark |- |12 |26 |24
France |3 |10 |9 |12
Federal Republic of Germany - 9 12 15
Ireland |6 |8 |6 |9
Netherlands |6 |8 |21 |32
Italy |7 |5 |4 |5
United Kingdom<1> |5 |5 |19 |23
Belgium |5 |5 |8 |13
Luxembourg |2 |3 |6 |7
Europe 10 |- |8 |12 |16
Europe 12 |- |10 |- |14
Source: Eurostat "Labour Force Survey 1983-91".
"-" information not available.
<1>More recent figures for the United Kingdom, from the spring 1993
labour force survey, show 6 per cent. of employees in temporary
employment and 25 per cent. of employees working part time.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is the number of those aged (a) 16 to 18 years, (b) 18 to 19 years and (c) 16 to 24 years unemployed in the parliamentary constituency of Greenock and Port Glasgow ; what percentages they are of the cohort ; how many persons under the age of 25 years in the same parliamentary constituency have never worked ; and what percentage of those aged 16 years in Greenock and Port Glasgow (i) stayed on at school, (ii) went into jobs and (iii) went into youth training in the last year for which figures are available.
Miss Widdecombe : In October 1993, unadjusted claimant unemployment in Greenock and Port Glasgow stood at 194 for 16 to 18-year-olds, 285 for 18 to 19-year-olds and 1,046 for 16 to 24-year-olds. This represents the extent of the available information at the constituency level.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average wage of (a) a male and (b) a female in (i) full-time employment and (ii) part-time employment in Greenock and Port Glasgow in each year since 1979.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The information available is for Strathclyde. The average earnings of full-time men and women in Strathclyde can be found in tables 110 and 113 of part E of the new earnings survey for each of the years concerned. Copies of the report can be found in the Library.
Information for part-time men and women is provided in the table :
Part-time employees in
Strathclyde-pay
unaffected by absence
Average gross hourly
earnings: at April
|Men |Women
------------------------
1979 |<1>- |1.30
1980 |<1>- |<1>-
1981 |<1>- |1.78
1982 |<1>- |2.05
1983 |<1>- |2.24
1984 |<1>- |2.33
1985 |<1>- |2.56
1986 |<1>- |<1>-
1987 |2.77 |2.88
1988 |<1>- |3.08
1989 |<1>- |3.54
1990 |<1>- |3.97
1991 |<1>- |4.39
1992 |<1>- |4.74
1993 |<1>- |4.87
<1> Denotes sample
number too small or
standard error too high
for a
reliable estimate.
Source: new earnings
survey.
Dr. Godman : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is his estimate of the most recent residence-based unemployment rates for each district council area in the parliamentary constituency of Greenock and Port Glasgow, giving the figures overall and broken down for males and females ; what is the change in the number of unemployed claimants in Greenock and Port Glasgow for the same month in each of the last seven years ; and what have been the percentage changes since 1979.
Miss Widdecombe : Information about numbers of unemployed claimants in Greenock and Port Glasgow constituency is available monthly from June 1983, and can be obtained from the NOMIS database in the Library. This is the extent of the available information. Residence-based International Labour Organisation unemployment rates are available from the labour force survey for some district councils, but not for Inverclyde, which contains the Greenock and Port Glasgow constituency, because the latter is too small.
One-stop Shops
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what percentage of the population was served by an Employment Service one-stop shop and what percentage was served by seperate employment and benefit offices at July 1993.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the Employment Service agency under its chief executive. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from M. E. G. Fogden to Mr. Hugh Bayley, dated 4 February 1994 :
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the percentage of the population served by our one-stop offices.
The Employment Service (ES) is working progressively to bring Jobcentre and Benefit Office services together under one roof. This network will provide a new and improved one-stop service offering the full range of ES services to help people back to work. It is expected that this will be completed by March 1996 when there will be a network of some 1,100 offices.
By July 1993 we had opened 787 of these new style Jobcentres. Although we cannot say what percentage of the national population they serve we do know that they provide an integrated service to some 68 per cent. of our unemployed clients. The remaining 32 per cent. are served by our separate networks of benefit offices and Jobcentres.
I hope this is helpful.
Column 1002
Redundancy Payments Service
Mr. Bayley : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what proportion of letters received by the Redundancy Payments Service from members of the public in 1993 had a reply within five working days ;
(2) what proportion of claims received by the Redundancy Payments Service in 1993 were paid within 14 weeks.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : 99.9 per cent. of letters received by the Redundancy Payments Services in 1993 were replied to within five days, and 90 per cent. of claims were paid within 14 weeks.
Health and Safety Commission
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will list the membership of the board of the Health and Safety Commission, giving in each case details of days worked per month and any remuneration.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The current membership of the Health and Safety Commission is :
Mr. F. J. Davies CBE OSt J Chairman
Councillor E. Carrick
Mr. C. Chope OBE
Mr. P. Gallagher
Mr. P. Jacques CBE
Mr. N. Pitcher
Dr. G. Schofield
Mr. R. Symons CBE
Mr. A. Tuffin CBE
Dame Rachel Waterhouse
The chairman and members of the commission are appointed on a part-time basis.
Mr. Davies works three days per week as commission chairman for which he is paid £54,088 per annum.
Commission members receive £1,060 per annum plus £105 for each day they spend on commission business. In 1993, this was an average of two days per member per month.
Employment Agencies
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many agencies are currently licensed under the Employment Agencies Act 1974, giving, in each case, their location and the numbers of staff employed by them.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : At the last count on 31 December 1993 there were 14,482 holders of licences under the Employment Agencies Act : 7,966 in London and the home counties ; 3,056 in the midlands, Wales and the south-west ; and 3,460 in the north and Scotland. The exact location of each licence holder is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Department has no information about the numbers of staff employed by licensed employment agencies.
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many employment agencies have been refused a licence or had their licence revoked under the Employment Agencies Act 1974 since it came into force ; and what were the reasons in each case.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : Fifty-eight licences have been refused and nine licences revoked since the Employment Agencies Act came into force in 1976. Convictions for
Column 1003
criminal offences were the reason for 26 refusals and four revocations. Evidence of lack of financial probity was the reason for 16 refusals and one revocation. The remaining cases each involved a variety of reasons, principally the persistent failure to comply with regulations applying to employment agencies.Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many inspections were made of employment agencies by his Department in 1993 ; and what was the figure in each year since 1979.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : The annual number of inspections was not recorded in full until 1982. The numbers for the year 1982 to 1993 in the table include visits to investigate complaints.
Inspection of Employment Agencies
Year |Number of
|Inspections
------------------------------------
1982 |3,686
1983 |3,997
1984 |3,650
1985 |4,252
1986 |4,337
1987 |4,547
1988 |4,854
1989 |6,274
1990 |6,093
1991 |5,199
1992 |4,842
1993 |4,567
Cash Limits
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what changes will be made to his Department's cash limits or running costs limits for 1993-94.
Mr. David Hunt : Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate, the following changes will be made : the cash limit for class V, vote 1--Department of Employment : programmes and central services--will be increased by a token £1,000 from £2,499,268,000 to £2,499,269,000 ; and
the single running costs limit for the Department of
Employment--class V, votes 1 and 2 will be increased by £13,340,000 from £1,448,050,000 to £1,461,390,000.
In addition :
the cash limit for class V, vote 2--Department of Employment : Employment Service--will be decreased by £13,775,000 from £638,569,000 to £624,794,000 ;
the cash limit on class V, vote 3--Health and Safety Commission and Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service--will be decreased by £3,000,000 from £206,531,000 to £203,531,000 to reflect adjustments to Health and Safety Executive provision ; and
within the cash limit above the running costs limit for the Health and Safety Commission will be decreased by £5,000,000 from £178,131, 000 to £173,131,000.
The changes listed are mainly to provide increased running costs provision to cover reorganisation costs and will not add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Column 1004
TRANSPORT
Enforcement Duties
Mrs. Dunwoody : To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list for each vehicle registration office and London enforcement office (a) the number of staff employed on enforcement duties, (b) their salary costs and (c) the enforcement revenue raised for 1992-93.
| Next Section
| Home Page |